Janusz Korczak

Janusz Korczak
Janusz Korczak, photographed c. 1933
Born
Henryk Goldszmit

(1878-07-22)22 July 1878
Diedc. 7 August 1942(1942-08-07) (aged 64)
Treblinka extermination camp, German-occupied Poland
NationalityPolish
Occupation(s)Children's author, humanitarian, pediatrician, child pedagogue and defender of children's rights
Websitekorczak.org.uk

Janusz Korczak, the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit (22 July 1878 or 1879 – 7 August 1942), was a Polish Jewish pediatrician, educator, children's author and pedagogue known as Pan Doktor ("Mr. Doctor") or Stary Doktor ("Old Doctor"). He was an early children's rights advocate, in 1919 drafting a children's constitution.

After spending many years working as a principal of an orphanage in Warsaw, he moved in with his orphans when the orphanage was forced to move to the ghetto, despite pleas from friends to flee the country. He was executed when the entire population of the institution was sent to the Treblinka extermination camp during the Grossaktion Warschau of 1942.